More Than We Can Ask or Imagine: 18th Anniversary

(Written on January 29th)
Last night we had gotten Zech in the bed, but the other 5 kids, Kenny, and I were sitting around the coffee table playing a big family game of Uno at the end of a long Saturday of basketball games and wrestling tournament.  A little earlier we had ordered pizza from Oz, our favorite pizza place that finally just reopened around the corner (woo-hoo!) and had sat around together eating pizza and watching old episodes of the Cosby show ( I know, not what everyone sits around watching on Saturday night these days, but it's a Dallas family favorite!) So here we were laughing, competing (yes, this family does some serious competing, even playing Uno...slightly embarassing), and just hanging out, and it hit me...18 years ago that same night Kenny and I were sitting at our rehearsal dinner for our wedding!  We were getting ready for one of the biggest days of our entire life, and I can still remember how exciting and fun it was.  Ofcourse, there was some nervousness and anticipation that night as we actually rehearsed walking up and down the aisle, where we would stand, etc, but there was a whole lot of fun that night, too.  Dinner with our closest family and friends, a sweet sentimental slideshow (yes, I said "slideshow"), and, ofcourse, a good time of everyone getting up and telling stories that made us laugh and cry all at the same time!  I remember it being a perfect celebration in preparation for our big day.  So there I sat last night in my very LOUD den with my groom and 5 of our beautiful, full of life children playing cards, looking around at each of their smiling faces, and I couldn't help but sit there and soak it in for a little while.  Perfect.  I could have never imagined in all of my wildest dreams how perfect.  I brought it up as we sat there..."Honey, so years ago at our rehearsal dinner, could we have pictured what we'd be doing 18 years later on this night?!"  We both just laughed and smiled at each other, knowing how blessed we have been. 

In Ephesians, it says that God can do "more than all we can ever ask or imagine."  Truth.  I've witnessed it over and over again already in my life.  Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined, conjured up, this beautiful life the Lord has given us...we would have botched it up completely  by ourselves.  It is only by His grace and guidance in our life that we have come this far.  He has been so faithful to place Godly mentors in our path, precious friends, and others who have sharpened us and made us stronger in our marriage, in our work, and as parents.  We have made it our one desire to honor Him and seek after Him in all we do...we fail terribly at times to measure up, that's for certain, but with all our hearts we have continued to stay the course and have determined that our focus, our whole life, is His.  We made a firm decision, before we even got married, that no matter the cost, we would have "the real deal" at home...that we would be intentional in this.  I'll be honest, that sometimes in a practical sense that's uncomfortable, because it means we have to say no to being involved in certain things that really are good  things in order to preserve time for our family, or we feel awkward knowing we do some things in ways that sometimes seem odd or "uncool" to everyone around us.  We dont' LIKE that feeling, but we have taken very seriously that commitment, and we believe God will continue to honor it if we persevere.

You know, God's ways are not man's ways.  His ways are so much higher, so much greater than our own.  As I looked around at those sweet Dallas faces last night I was reminded of that once again.  He's always up to something.  We just want to always continue joining Him in whatever that is.  We are far from perfect...anyone around us long will see that for sure, but we do love the Lord with all of our hearts, love each other more and more every single day, and adore and enjoy our sweet children. By the way, I don't think what we have in our marriage and family is anything that anyone else can't have, too.  God offers such meaning and joy to each of us wherever we are in our journey, if only we will seek after Him with all of our hearts and not grow weary.  Remember...God can do "more than all you can ever ask or imagine."  Expect it.  Pursue it.  He won't disappoint you!


(If you'd like to see some pictures of our journey so far, here's my post from last year http://lifetrulylife.blogspot.com/2011/01/17-years-and-counting.html?spref=bl">Life that is truly life: 17 years and counting